Resources

Under President Juan Manuel Santos, the Colombian government has vastly expanded protected areas, creating new national parks and providing land titles to indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in the Amazon, Chocó and other important forest regions. However, many challenges remain. National parks and indigenous and Afro-Colombian lands continue to be threatened by illegal occupation, coca cultivation and illegal gold mining.

Established in 1996 as a joint initiative of CAF – Development Bank of Latin America, the Inter-American Dialogue, and the Organization of American States, the Annual CAF Conference brings together more than 1,000 world leaders to debate and discuss the most pressing developments facing the Americas.

Paraguay, Haiti and Bolivia are the highest-risk countries for money laundering in Latin America and the Caribbean, while Colombia has the region’s lowest risk for the crime, according to an Aug. 16 report by the Basel Institute on Governance. What are the main factors behind the prevalence of money laundering in the high-risk countries and for Colombia’s relatively low risk? How well have the governments of the countries above addressed money laundering, and what more should they be doing? Are banks in these countries doing enough to prevent the practice, and what additional safeguards, if any, should they put in place?

CGTN’s Rachelle Akuffo spoke to Peter Hakim, president emeritus and senior fellow at Inter-American Dialogue. They discussed the challenges facing Chile’s economy and what prospects it has for the foreseeable future.

Inter-American Dialogue Board Member Eduardo Stein and Senior Fellow Kevin Casas-Zamora recently participated in an interview with TRT World on corruption in Guatemala. In the interview, Stein discussed how the perception of Guatemala’s president Jimmy Morales has changed and the role that the United Nations and the International Commission against Impunity have played thus far in the corruption investigation. Casas highlighted the similarities and differences between the present investigation of President Morales and the corruption scandal which led to the ousting of Guatemala’s former president, Otto Pérez Molina, in 2015.

On September 5, the Inter-American Dialogue and the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute co-hosted an event with the Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Commonly referred to as AMLO, López Obrador is the head of Mexico’s National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party. López Obrador discussed the key issues that have and will continue to shape his campaign and, if elected in 2018, his presidency.

The Inter-American Dialogue engages our network of global leaders to foster democratic governance, prosperity, and social equity in Latin America and the Caribbean. Together, we work to shape policy debate, devise solutions, and enhance cooperation within the Western Hemisphere.